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10 Reasons Why Jon Jones is Hated

10 Reasons why Jon Jones is hated

Well this is my first attempt at writing an article, so donít be too harsh on me. From last nightís UFC 172 discussion thread, many people were upset with Jones, and it got me thinking why he is so hated. Let me start by saying I am a member of the Bones hater club, but I also respect that he is an amazing fighter and possibly the best of our generation to date. I hope the mods will not consider this fighter bashing, as I am only stating reasons why people may hate on Jon Jones so passionately. So onto the reasons why he is so hated:

1. UFC 151 Ė The Event That Never Was
At no time was the Jonesí hate train gaining more steam than around the time of UFC 151. The card was cancelled, and many fighters lost their income due to Jonís unwillingness to fight Sonnen, a middleweight on 9 daysí notice. He had a full training camp put in, but refused to take the fight. Not only did fighters lose pay, but fans who had bought tickets for the event months before were denied being able to attend a UFC event. Iím sure this also caused monetary losses to the city hosting the event, the venue and people who would have worked that day. It was a sad day in MMA history as it currently remains the first and only UFC event had been cancelled due to a main event fighterís unwillingness to change opponents on short notice. (Personally, I was glad the event was cancelled. I had tickets to UFC 152 in Toronto, where he beat Belfort. Without that fight, the card would have sucked very badly, as Mighty Mouse was the main event and that fight was boring in attendance).

2. He Beat Your Favorite Fighter(s)
The list of names on Jonesí resume is quite extensive. He has defeated many fan favorites throughout his tenure in the UFC. Fighters such as Sonnen, Belfort, Machida, Rampage, Shogun, and many more have extensive fan followings. And when your favorite fighter loses, it is a bitter pill to swallow, and a grudge may be held against his conqueror for years to come.

3. He Fights Dirty
This is open to interpretation. Sure some things may be unconventional, such as his oblique kicks, but they are within the rules of an MMA bout. The downward elbows on Matt Hamill were illegal, but maybe they were thrown in the heat of battle without him realizing they were illegal. With an adrenaline rush experienced in an MMA fight and the thought of finishing, a much less experienced Jones may not have realized what he was doing. The eye pokes observed at UFC 172 were also illegal, but itís not like he was intentionally poking Glover in the eyes. It may be natural defense to push an opponent away with an open hand to avoid being struck, and with the reach advantage it prevents damage from being inflicted. Jones has done this in prior bouts, as has Josh Koscheck with eye pokes and Cheick Kongo with ball shots. It could be avoided with better MMA gloves or training to not do this, if he wanted to stop it.

4. His Arrogance / Attitude / Fake Humility
Jones does come off arrogant at times in interviews. Maybe he has the right to, after being dominant for so long. There are many interviews where he comes off as such, with the most recent being his refusal to talk about Gustafsson (which seems to be brought up enough to annoy him). He even admits he is such with quotes like "I notice that I'm full of myself and I'm arrogant to some degree, but it's honestly only when it comes to talking about MMA,Ē You donít have to look far to find an interview in which he has this type of attitude. Maybe this attitude just rubs people the wrong way, but at least he is honest about it now. (http://www.mmamania.com/2014/4/24/56...of-himself-mma)

5. Easy Road To The Title
Jon had only gotten his title shot against Shogun Rua because Rashad Evans had gotten injured in the lead up to their fight. Prior to the title fight he was 6-1 in the UFC with the loss being a DQ to Hamill, and the wins over Bader, Matyushenko, Vera, OíBrien, Bonnar and Gusmao. He had not defeated many big names at the time of his title challenge. However 2 of the fights (Matyushenko and Bader) were headlining bouts on a card. The title fight with Rua occurred 6 weeks after the Bader fight, so it was a quick turnaround and he was willing to step up on short notice. Is it really a reason to hate a fighter for taking a title fight he hadnít Ďearnedí in the eyes of some?

6. The Reach / Size Advantage
With a massive reach of 84.5Ē, they donít come much longer than Jones. The 7-footer Stefan Struve has an identical reach, and the heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez only has a 77Ē reach. Of all the opponents Jones has faced thus far in his career, only Gustafsson has rivaled his reach (81Ē). Yes it is a major advantage in many fights, as he is able to keep opponents at a distance where he can strike them but they canít hit him. Many have called for him to move up to heavyweight, where fighters have a similar reach to his. But if he can make 205, why move up to a division which has a 60 pound range, where he may be slower if he adds mass. Should we hate on the man for being the longest fighter in his division? Probably not, but some will anyways.

7. Dominance
When a fighter is dominant, it is fun to see what challengers can offer them and how they can solve problems that unique opponents possess. But when they destroy all comers, it gets a bit stale after awhile. I felt the same with Anderson Silva after he kept beating down one opponent after another, it got to the point where it wasnít Ďwill he winí it was Ďhow will he winí. That is, until the first fight Silva had with Chael Sonnen. Suddenly the man wasnít invincible anymore. Someone had figured out a way to knock him down a peg and (almost) defeat him. With Jones this came when he fought Gustafsson. He was pushed to the edge in that five round war, but managed to persevere and secure the win. Suddenly he looks mortal again, and does not appear to be an unconquerable monster. But when you rule over a division, people get tired of it after years and years, and start to root for you to lose.

8. The Car Crash
This one may be stupid, but may also be the source of some peoplesí hatred for him. It was May 19th 2012 when Jones crashed his Bentley into a telephone pole while intoxicated with two female passengers in the vehicle (neither of whom was his fiancť). Then he pleads guilty and gets off with a slap on the wrist. The majority of us canít afford a Bentley, nor could we just buy a new car if we crashed it, and we certainly would be in a world of shit if this situation occurred to us normal folk. But this kind of thing happens with all celebrities, driving drunk and crashing cars, and the world keeps turning.

9. Dana White And Joe Rogan On His Nuts
The love Jones gets from White, Rogan, and Goldberg is ridiculous. White I can understand because Jones is one of his biggest cash cows, so he will milk all he can until the milk runs dry then take him out to pasture. Rogan and Goldy have obvious bias towards many fighters, so that doesnít surprise me much either. However listening to them on commentary during a Jones fight is annoying at times, as it seems heís the only one in there doing any damage. Maybe how these 3 stooges talk so lovingly about Jones has made people hate him even more?

10. Because Everyone Else Does
People are like sheep, MMA fans are people, therefore MMA fans are like sheep. Sometimes everyone just agrees with popular opinion and makes others opinion their own. Itís like the argument of Ďwell everyone else is doing it, why canít Ií? Some people might just hate on Jones because the masses are doing so as well.

Now you can hate the man all you want, you can hate his personality or his attitude or any of the things listed above. But you canít deny the fact that he is an amazing fighter and athlete. Sure some tactics may be unsportsmanlike, or may bother you, but the man is one of the greatest mixed martial artists of all time. Everyone saying in the forum during the UFC 172 discussion that ďI will never watch another Jones fightĒ, I call Shenanigans on that one. How do you call yourself an MMA fan if you donít want to watch the greatest fighter of our generation? Even if you are the biggest Jon Jones hater in the world, you will likely want to see his fights because you will root for him to lose. So although you may not like him, you must respect that he is great at what he does, and that is beating the living shit out of another human being.

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it. Please let me know if you do and maybe I will write another one in the future. And again, Iím not bashing Jones; Iím just stating why people may hate him so much. Personally for me itís 2, 3, and 7. What about you?

Originally Posted by KevoOnTheRadio

I wanted to watch two fat guys stare at each other huffing and puffing

He is dirty as can be. Amazing fighter? Lol no, athlete yes. The guy fought one guy his height and got smashed. Hence why he's cried so much about a Gus rematch, chose the Glover fight over the rematch, and backtracked on "testing himself at heavyweight".

Silva and Gsp had size advantages and nowhere near like his yet showed so much more skill in every aspect of mma, where as he coasts off his size advantages.

He is dirty as can be. Amazing fighter? Lol no, athlete yes. The guy fought one guy his height and got smashed. Hence why he's cried so much about a Gus rematch, chose the Glover fight over the rematch, and backtracked on "testing himself at heavyweight".

Silva and Gsp had size advantages and nowhere near like his yet showed so much more skill in every aspect of mma, where as he coasts off his size advantages.

Yea I did forget the elbows to the throat. I can't even really remember them tbh.

Don't know about dirty as can be, but that's cool if that's ur opinion. He did grab the cage vs Glover as was warned if I remember correctly. It's not like he does ball shots and punches to the back of the head though. The eye poke thing is just a reaction I think, and he's got to train differently to avoid that (if he wants to, but probably not if refs let him get away with it).

With his variety of attacks I think he is an amazing fighter, who else can land spinning elbows at will like that? Personally I thought Gus beat him when I was there live, but again, those spinning elbows changed it. And I'm glad Gus didn't rematch immediately, even with the rematch looming, what happens if Jones wins again? Gus is stuck in limbo because getting a third title shot against a guy who's beat you twice is extremely rare.

He does coast off his size, and could do HW. But he'd be slower, and could lose, etc. Why mess with a winning formula?

So you hate him because of 3 and 6?

Originally Posted by KevoOnTheRadio

I wanted to watch two fat guys stare at each other huffing and puffing

You're kinda sugar coating it a bit. The eye pokes, illegal elbows, cage grabbing, head butts, and probably a few others I'm forgetting. You can say it's "heat of the moment" or "he didn't know the rule" and I might let that slide once, maybe twice but this guy is consistently breaking the rules.

Also I would not say people hating him for the "car crash" is kinda stupid. Drinking and Driving Kills people every year. I don't give a fuck if he's a celebrity or not he willing endangered the lives of the others. If people despise him for that I think they are justified.

Originally Posted by Sick_Lunatic

How do you call yourself an MMA fan if you don’t want to watch the greatest fighter of our generation? Even if you are the biggest Jon Jones hater in the world, you will likely want to see his fights because you will root for him to lose.

Most of what you said, while I may disagree with I respect your opinion. This bit here I find obnoxious. If I didn't respect you for the way you typically carry yourself and contribute to the boards I'd neg you for it.

First off who are you to question whether someone can call themselves a fan? What you like about MMA might not be what someone else likes. Does that make you more of a fan? If I can think of better things to do with my $60 then watch someone I can't stand fight I'm not a fan?

Secondly, the idea that I should want to watch to "see him lose" is utter bullshit. Jones gets a PPV cut. That means a portion of the money I pay to watch the fight is going into his pocket. I despise him so why the fuck should I want to pay him? That type of mentality is why we are seeing fighters act like WWE villains and I'm just not going to fall for that marketing ploy. I can just as happily read about him losing.

And lastly, you seem to be acting as if there is no debate over him being "the greatest fighter of our generation". Fedor, Anderson, Aldo, and Cain might disagree with you. For my money Fedor and Anderson are neck and neck and everyone else is a distant third.

Edit: Overall good first article except the part I quoted. I think maybe because you don't like Jones you overcompensated in the other direction in a few spots but not badly. I'd just avoid absolutes like"the greatest fighter of our generation" unless it's non debatable and avoid questioning your readers fanhood. If someone shells out $60 a PPV and gets so emotionally invested in it that they waste their free time on a message board arguing over it, they are a fan.

He got cheered mainly because he played up to the Ravens fans which his brother plays for.

No idc about the size advantages, its just the dumb ass fangirls here who pretty much deny those advantages have anything to do with his success. He's a dirty fighter, that's my issue. I don't care if he acts like a jack ass outside of the cage but he should respect his opponents enough to fight clean.

I didn't agree with an immediate Gus rematch, even tho that's fight I wanna see. But the way he's been crying about fighting Gus pretty much shows he wants no part of him.

I think a lot of this started when him and Rashad both trained at jacksons and said they wouldn't fight each other, then Jones went behind Rashads back and acted like Rashad was the one who was scared.